DARK SOULS ☽ 𝚍𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚘 𝚖𝚊𝚕𝚏𝚘𝚢

𝔵𝔵𝔵𝔦 | fifth year

Draco and I continue meeting up and making out throughout winter break, but we've decided that it's only a "friends" thing, even though I've never felt this way about somebody I would call a friend. 

However, it does make things less awkward between us afterward, and though it's obvious we both long for each other, it's better to just deny it. I'm a mudblood and he's a pure-blood supremacist, anyways. Nobody will know.

Over winter break, several former Death Eaters have escaped from Azkaban something that I believe is linked to Voldemort. I wish I could talk to the rest of the Army about it, but nearly everyone's gone home for the holidays. 

Ron, Hermione, and Harry were sent away on urgent business that Ron's father was injured in the Ministry of Magic by a snake. Harry says he believes it's Voldemort in the coded letters he sends back to D.A. members, which scares me immensely. Though the Ministry covers it up as a plot formed by Sirius Black. 

Once school starts back up after the holidays, the dynamic between me and Draco does a complete one-eighty. We barely speak, and I continue with my Dumbledore's Army practices, which gives me an escape from what I'm really feeling. Quidditch used to do that for me, until Umbridge banned it. 

Many people in school start shifting over to Harry's side now that the Prophet's stories aren't adding up. The Army even gains a few more members.

The Room of Requirement seems to keep expanding as we gain more members, and one day, Harry decides it's time for us to produce a Patronus. Harry is one of the few students that has been able to produce one that is corporeal, and actually takes the shape of an animal. 

Harry demonstrates, his full-bodied stag Patronus prancing around the room. Everyone laughs as he explains how he did it, "Think of the happiest memory you have, and really concentrate, and try to feel that joy all throughout you. It might take a couple tries, but everyone will get there with a lot of practice."

After practicing for a while, Ginny Weasley is the first one to be able to produce one. Her horse Patronus gallops around the room, filling everyone with excitement. 

I try a couple times, thinking of memories with my family and even when I used to be friends with Aurora's little gang, but none of them work. Only small tendrils of white light shoot from my wand, "Good job, Y/N, you just need to focus more. The memory you're using might not be happy enough."

I sigh, watching as Hermione forms an otter Patronus, and it swims through the air around her. Neville looks like he's also having trouble, only being able to produce a non-corporeal one, but Harry praises him for his efforts. 

Soon, Luna finds her rabbit Patronus, and Ron's Jack Russell terrier runs around the room, knocking Neville off his feet, "Great job, everyone."

I finally decide to let one memory take over, not that I want it to, but the memories of kissing Draco nightly for the past weeks fill my mind, and I cast the spell strongly, "Expecto Patronum!" Light streams from the end of my wand, and I think I see the shape of something. A great white shark. It flicks its tail, almost knocking me down with the sheer power. 

"Amazing, Y/N! That's a powerful Patronus," Harry grins, watching the shark swim high in the room, "What did you think about?"

"Just... my cat." My thoughts flick to sweet Azazel, and the Patronus seems to strengthen for a second as I think about him and Draco at the same time. 

"Well, you're doing great!" Harry raises his voice for everyone to hear, "Congratulations to everyone who found their Patronus. Everyone else, there is plenty of time and you're already doing amazing! I'm so proud of every–" He is cut off by the sound of smashing, against the door of the Room. 

People mutter under their breath, and a couple raise their wands. The glass on the wall shatters suddenly, and my heart jumps to my throat. Harry looks through a hole created by the smash, and Umbridge stands on the other side of it. 

She yells a curse, her high-pitched voice searing my ears. The wall blasts to smithereens. The Inquisitorial Squad stands behind her with Filch, their arms crossed. Then, Draco walks out from the side, Cho Chang in tow. I gasp. Why would he...

We're all grabbed by our collars and dragged out of the room, to Dumbledore's office. I make eye contact with Draco, mustering the most disappointed look that I can onto my face. His eyes flash with apology for a second, but then his face stills like he regrets it. 

Once we arrive, Fudge and the rest of the Ministry lackeys, including Lucius Malfoy, stand in Dumbledore's office. Figures. Now I understand why Draco has joined the Squad. His father. Fudge pronounces Dumbledore arrested, and that he will be sent to Azkaban to await trail. Harry looks shocked. 

However, Dumbledore responds, "You seem to be laboring under the delusion that I will come quietly," he pauses, "I have no intention of going to Azkaban."

"Take him!" Umbridge squeals, as Dumbledore's phoenix bursts from the back of the room. Dumbledore grabs ahold of it and they disappear in a blast of flames that pushes everyone backwards. He's gone.

After this, the school falls apart.  

Umbridge replaces Dumbledore as the head of Hogwarts, and her rules really get out of control. I go from the common room, to class, and back everyday. No free time. No time to see any of my friends, only that and the daily questioning from Umbridge. 

All the paintings are removed from the walls, and all the people inside of them are banished, not allowed to come back to their painting inside Hogwarts. The entirety of the D.A. is forced to write blood-soaked lines every night until midnight while Umbridge watches with her blasted cup of tea. 

I hate it. I hate it. I hate it. I just wish it was still winter break, when I could find comfort in a certain boy's touch.